As the 28th anniversary of Princess Diana’s passing approaches, her two sons — once inseparable, now estranged — remain bound by a single, unshakable vow: to keep her memory alive.
On July 16, Prince Harry retraced his mother’s most iconic steps, walking through a minefield in Angola just as Diana had nearly three decades earlier. The poignant moment recalled her fight to expose the hidden horrors of war. Two weeks before, on what would have been Diana’s 64th birthday, Prince William honored her legacy closer to home. In Sheffield, he marked the second anniversary of Homewards, his campaign to end homelessness — an issue Diana first introduced her sons to when she quietly brought them into shelters as children.
Different continents, different causes — yet the same guiding spirit.
Brothers Divided, Paths Diverged
It wasn’t always this way. Diana’s biographer Andrew Morton remembers the days when the brothers seemed destined to face the future together. “Diana always said Harry would be William’s wingman,” he notes. “It’s a great loss for the monarchy.”
Now 43, William lives in Windsor with Kate and their three children — George, Charlotte, and Louis. Across the Atlantic, Harry, 40, and Meghan raise Archie and Lilibet in Montecito, California. Their children, cousins by blood, have not been seen together publicly since 2019.
The rift widened in 2020 after Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties. Harry’s memoir Spare, his Netflix docuseries, and his Oprah interview further deepened the divide. At one point, Harry alleged a physical confrontation with William over Meghan — an incident that became symbolic of their fractured bond.
“Things were said that sparked the initial rift, and it’s never healed,” Morton says.
Diana’s Lessons, Still Alive
Despite silence between them, Diana’s influence continues to shape both men. William, grounded in duty, has quietly worked in shelters, serving meals without cameras present — a direct echo of Diana’s lessons in compassion. Harry, meanwhile, poured his heart into Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in Lesotho to support children orphaned by HIV/AIDS — its very name, forget-me-not, drawn from Diana’s favorite flower.
Tessy Ojo, head of the Diana Award, has seen their dedication firsthand: “When young people who never met Diana tell them how much she changed their lives, there’s a sense of pride: ‘Wow, my mother did that.’”
Both brothers even gave their daughters Diana’s name as a middle name. In private, her photographs line their homes.
Will There Ever Be a Reunion?
There are whispers of possible healing — at least between Harry and his father. In July, his team met with King Charles’s aides, raising hopes for a face-to-face meeting when Harry returns to the U.K. this September. But William remains apart, focused on his wife’s recovery from cancer and guiding George, his heir, into adolescence.
“William’s anger has calcified into indifference,” a source told The Sunday Times.
Royal historian Robert Lacey believes the rift runs deep: “It won’t change until Harry apologizes.”
Yet one bond endures — the mother they lost too soon. “This is the sadness,” a palace source reflects. “They aren’t supporting each other like they should be. That’s what Diana would have wanted most of all.”
As Diana once told friends: she had two sons for a reason — so one would never have to face the loneliness of the Crown alone.
